


Our Reflection

by mixtapesandsunsets



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27015664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapesandsunsets/pseuds/mixtapesandsunsets
Summary: “Hello,” Dani said softly.“Hello, Dani,” the Lady replied. “My name is Viola.”“Viola,” Dani breathed. “It’s so good to properly meet you.”
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Viola Lloyd, Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 17
Kudos: 594





	Our Reflection

**Author's Note:**

> I finished the show last night and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. 
> 
> This is a quick little fix-it fic where the beast doesn't get Dani. I hope it soothes your pain as it did mine, at least for a moment.

When they first joined, Dani could feel the Lady in the Lake constantly. She was always there, in the very back of her skull. She felt like a wound. No. Not a wound. A scab, maybe. She didn’t hurt, but Dani felt her. Dani couldn’t stop feeling her. It was like when you lose a tooth as a kid and your tongue keeps going back to the gap. That’s what the Lady was: a gap inside Dani. Quiet, almost empty. But she felt her. All the time.  _ All _ the time. 

It was like that for several years, in fact. Dani would go to sleep. She would dream that she was laying in the depths of the lake, staring upwards. She was not afraid during these dreams. Just… lonely. Then Dani would wake. And she’d forget. 

The first thing she’d notice when she woke would always be Jamie: Jamie’s breath against her neck, Jamie’s hand on her waist, Jamie’s messy hair brushing against Dani’s cheek. A constant. A tether. 

The second thing she’d notice would be the Lady. The gap. 

Over time, Dani didn’t feel the Lady so much. Or… that isn’t exactly true. Dani still felt her. But she felt different. Over time, the Lady felt less like a gap and more like a presence. Dani had tried to explain this to Jamie once.

“That sounds like the same thing, love,” she had answered kindly, smiling at Dani over the bouquet of calla lilies she was arranging.

Dani shook her head. “No. No, it’s different. She’s less empty now. She’s more peaceful, I think.”

Jamie nodded slowly. “All right. Do we think that’s a good thing, then?”

Dani shrugged. “I don’t know. But I hope so, James. She deserves some peace.”

Jamie had given her a strange look at that, which Dani supposed was fair. After all, the Lady had killed countless people and nearly killed several others, Dani included. But Dani wasn’t upset with her. Not anymore. She’d been at Bly for a very long time, that much was certain. She must have been very lonely, all those years in the lake. Very angry. Very sad. Who was Dani to judge the Lady for what her circumstances had done to her? 

Before Dani knew it, it had been 6 years since they’d joined. She still felt her, but she didn’t mind so much. She stopped feeling like the beast in the jungle was going to hurt her. The beast felt almost friendly, now. Or maybe not friendly, but at least benign. Just a presence. No rage, no sadness. Just a presence. 

She was washing up after dinner one night, Jamie leaning against the counter off to the side, when Dani looked down at the surface of the water in the sink and gasped. She jerked back, dropping the plate she’d been holding.

“Jesus, Dani!” Jamie exclaimed. “What happened? Baby, what is it?” 

“I… I saw her. I saw her.”

“What?!”

Dani pressed a hand to her face. Her reflection hadn’t been her own, but her face felt like it always did under her fingertips.

Jamie calmed her down, offered to do the dishes from now on, and sent her off to relax while she cleaned up the mess, waving off Dani’s apologies. 

Instead of laying down, Dani went to the bathroom. She filled the sink with water and took a deep breath, looking down. The face looking back was not her own, but it wasn’t the Lady’s either. Or… it wasn’t the scrubbed off face she had when they’d joined. The face was beautiful, in fact. Regal. Dani pressed a hand to her cheek again, but the reflection in the water didn’t mirror her as it should. Instead, it smiled. Dani gasped, backing up against the wall. 

“Dani?” Jamie asked, coming down the hallway. “Are you all right?”

“Y-yeah!” she stammered. Jamie came into the bathroom, frowning at the water in the sink. She reached to unplug the drain.

“Wait!” Dani exclaimed. Jamie’s hand froze above the sink. “I want you to… I want you to see.” She was breathless, but she didn’t feel afraid.

“Dani…” 

“It’s okay. I’m - it’s okay, I promise, just look.”

Dani leaned over the sink, Jamie standing close behind her. The image of the woman’s face returned to the surface of the water.

“Do… do you see her?” Dani whispered.

“I only see you.” 

“Jamie, it’s her. But it’s not… it’s - it’s  _ her _ .”

“Dani, I don’t understand. What are you saying? What do you mean it’s  _ her _ ?” Jamie’s voice was tight with her anxiety.

“Jamie, her face. Her face is back. She has a real face.” 

That night, Dani slept. She dreamed, but she did not dream of the bottom of the lake. That night, Dani dreamed of Bly. She was sitting at the edge of the lake, exactly where Flora used to sit with her talisman. She heard the whisper of footsteps in the lush grass, but she didn’t look up. She knew it was her.

The Lady sat down next to her, staring out at the water.

“Hello,” Dani said softly.

“Hello, Dani,” the Lady replied. “My name is Viola.”

“Viola,” Dani breathed. “It’s so good to properly meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Not long after, Dani glanced up and realized that the Lady - Viola - was gone. 

She woke up wrapped tightly in Jamie’s arms. And she remembered.

Dani did not see Viola again for several months, nor did she dream of her. She just felt her. Dani proposed to the love of her life, and she was so happy.  _ So  _ happy. Dani thought that Viola was happy too; the spot that she lived inside of Dani was warmer, somehow. It was a nice thought.

Owen came over to officiate the ceremony - “officiate” being a loose term, as neither Dani nor Jamie were particularly religious, but it was nice to have it feel more formal regardless. They kept a small framed photo of Hannah on the coffee table. Dani hoped that somehow, wherever she was, she knew that they were thinking of her. That she was still part of their best moments. 

That night after Owen went home, Dani slept. She dreamed. She was next to the lake again, and Viola was already next to her. 

“Hi, Viola.”

“Hello, Dani.”

“Are you -” Dani cut herself off, laughing a bit at the strangeness of the situation. “Um. How are you?”

Viola smiled, the expression still looking a bit unnatural on her face. “I am better now. You’ve given me part of yourself, and it allowed me to heal. I remember my life now. I remember my death as well, and although I reflect on it much less fondly, I’m glad I remember. Thank you, Dani.”

Dani turned to her, smiling. “You’re welcome. Thank you for accepting my offer.”

Viola hummed. “I’m sorry that I hurt you. That I almost hurt that little girl. It is not something that I chose.”

“I know,” Dani said. “It’s okay. I know.”

Dani woke. Dani remembered. 

It went on like this for another five years or so: Dani would sleep. Once in a while, Dani would dream, and in the dream she’d talk to Viola. Viola told her of her life, of her death. Then Dani would wake, and she’d remember. She and Viola lived together, sharing a body, sharing a life. It wasn’t unusual anymore, and rarely did Viola’s presence bother her. When Dani looked at her reflection, it was her own that she saw, the one she’d seen her whole life. Just with one new eye. Dark brown, deep brown. She barely remembered not having it, anymore. It was part of her now, along with Viola. 

Then, one day, Dani slept. She dreamed, and Viola was there. She was smiling. She looked ethereal in the late afternoon sunshine at Bly. 

“Dani.”

“Viola.”

“Dani, I’m ready.”

“Ready? Ready for what?”

“To go. To move on. I chose not to, when I first died. I trapped myself, and trapped the others without meaning to. I couldn’t move on before, but I can now. I feel it again.”

“What do you feel?”

“The pull. Of whatever is next.”

“Oh,” Dani breathed. 

Viola reached out a hand, cupping Dani’s cheek. Dani was surprised at the intensity of her sadness. How badly she had wanted her out at first, and now to be sad that she was leaving? It would be unthinkable to anyone else. But they had lived together for so long. They had become something like friends. Sisters, even. Dani loved her, this woman who had lived centuries before Dani was even born. You’d love anyone whose story you knew so well, whose story was so closely intertwined with your own.

“Dani,” Viola said, Dani’s cheek still in her warm palm. “Take care of yourself. And take care of your wife. What you have is rare. Cherish it.”

Dani felt a tear slip out of her eye. Viola brushed it away. “Okay,” Dani said, voice barely a whisper. 

“It’s you,” Viola murmured. “It’s me.”

“It’s us,” Dani said with her, choking on a sob. 

Viola smiled. Dani woke. Dani remembered. And for the first time in 11 years, Dani did not feel her. No gap, no presence. Just… Dani.

Dani’s tears were still falling silently. “Jamie,” she said. “Jamie, she’s gone.”

Jamie woke with a start, looking around in a panic. “What? What?”

“She’s gone. Viola is gone. She… she was finally able to move on.”

“My god,” Jamie said in wonder, and took Dani into her arms. Over Jamie’s shoulder, she looked at the mirror on their bedroom door. Her own reflection looked back at her. Two blue eyes. 

Behind the reflection of Dani and Jamie tangled together on their bed stood Viola in her finest silks, smiling at Dani in the mirror. She lifted her gloved hand in a wave, and then she was gone. 


End file.
